According to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, the United States will have a coronavirus vaccine ready for mass distribution by the end of the year. At a Pentagon press briefing immediately following Esper's comments, however, the Pentagon said this was just a goal.
By the end of this year, the United States will have "a vaccine at scale to treat the American people and our partners abroad," Esper said at a briefing regarding vaccine progress at the White House Friday afternoon.
This timeline conflicted with that of various public health officials who have said a vaccine could be 12 to 18 months away. When asked about Esper's confidence that a vaccine would be ready by the end of the year, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman clarified SECDEF's comments saying they were a goal rather than a definitive announcement.
"We set a goal," Hoffman said. "You set a goal and you work backward from there."
"I think its fair for the secretary to be confident," Hoffman added. "The secretary is showing optimism and confidence, and I think that's what the American people want to see."
President Donald Trump also anticipates that a vaccine will be ready for mass distribution by year's end. And when it's ready, Trump has tasked the military with distributing it.
Trump says he will mobilize US military to distribute future COVID-19 vaccine
Trump told Fox Business Network that the military is "being mobilized so, at the end of the year, we’re going to be able to give it to a lot of people very, very rapidly."
Trump did not elaborate on what exactly that mobilization looks like beyond saying that distributing the vaccine would be "a massive job."
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Reach Elizabeth Howe on Twitter @ECBHowe.
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